


Action is Redemption

by SweetPollyOliver



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Redemption, Tags May Change, Yard Work, period atypical allyship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:09:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27845790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetPollyOliver/pseuds/SweetPollyOliver
Summary: After the tournament, the Cobras want to make amends with Daniel, which leads to them doing yard work for Mr Miyagi and, eventually, training with him.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso & the OG Cobras, Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence, Mr Miyagi & the Cobras
Comments: 84
Kudos: 163
Collections: Different But Same





	1. Bobby

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from a letter written by Emily Dickinson to Mary Bowles.
> 
> [The idea from this fic comes from this post on tumblr](https://cobrakingjohnny.tumblr.com/post/636364842507304961/i-need-more-lawrusso-aus-where-miyagi-takes-the)

They all left Cobra Kai. There wasn’t a question of it after what Kreese had done to Johnny in the parking lot and, for Bobby, he had known the writing was on the wall from when he saw Daniel LaRusso crumple in front of him during their match and he’d felt nothing but aching guilt. 

He went back to church for the first time in years the next Sunday and listened carefully to the surprisingly apt sermon on forgiveness. When he walked back to his car afterwards he felt calm but also restless somehow. He knew God would forgive him, but he wanted to make it right with the living person he’d harmed too. 

He wanted to bring the guys with him. They’d been resistant at first, Dutch especially, but that same afternoon they had begrudgingly gone over to South Seas apartments in Reseda, hats in hand. Only for LaRusso’s mother to tell them that he wasn’t there. 

“You might try Mr Miyagi’s house,” she said, as they turned to leave. “I’ll get you the address.” 

When she went back into the apartment Bobby turned to look at Johnny. 

“We’ve come this far,” he said and Johnny nodded. 

“I guess,” he said. 

When Mrs LaRusso returned she pressed a slip of paper into Bobby’s hand and gave him a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. 

“I’m so sorry, Mrs LaRusso,” he said impulsively. “We all are. To you as well as Daniel. We’re never going back to Cobra Kai.” 

Her face softened. 

“I’m glad,” she said. “I can’t forgive you for him, but I appreciate you coming over and saying that. And I’m glad you’re away from that John Kreese.” 

She shivered dramatically and Bobby felt Johnny shift beside him. Jimmy reached out from Johnny’s other side to put a hand on his shoulder. 

“We are too, ma’am,” Johnny said, eyes downcast. 

It wasn’t completely the truth. Kreese, and his good opinion of them, had been their alpha and omega for years. Johnny longest of all, but all of them had craved nothing more than his approval. Seeing him finally for the small, cruel man that he was and realising that he had been carving them into that image had been… well, it had been devastating. 

They walked back to their bikes and Bobby studied the piece of paper. 

“We’re not really going to the old man’s house are we?” Tommy asked. “What if he kicks our asses again?” 

“He saved Johnny,” Jimmy said. “He’s an honourable guy. He’s not going to kick our asses for trying to apologise.” 

They all turned to look at Johnny again who had a tight expression on his face. 

“Let’s go,” he said. 

*

When they arrived there was no answer to their knock at the door, but they could hear voices in the backyard and Dutch went straight for the side gate. They scrambled to follow him and all burst out in an awkward heap, tripping over each other, to find Daniel and the old man sitting on the deck talking. 

Daniel dragged himself awkwardly to his feet (well, foot) wincing as he did so and stared at them. 

“What are you doing here?” he demanded and the old man put a hand on his arm. 

Bobby opened his mouth, but then Johnny stepped forward. 

“Your mom said you’d be here,” he said and then rushed to continue as Daniel opened his mouth again. “We wanted to apologise. For everything. And to tell you that we’re finished with Cobra Kai. And we want to… make amends.” 

Daniel looked over the group, who were varying degrees of shamefaced, before his eyes settled back on Johnny. 

“How are you going to do that?” he asked, arms crossed. 

“Jesus, Danielle,” Johnny started and Bobby put a hand on his arm.

“It’s up to you,” Bobby said. “If you just want us to leave you alone we can do that. If you want us to carry your books for the rest of the year we can do that. We want to make it right if we can.” 

The old man stood up and drew Daniel aside for a moment to whisper in his ear. As he did, the boy’s expression went from stony to smiling over a matter of seconds. 

“Mr Miyagi could use some help painting the house,” he said finally, turning back to them. 

*

After the house was painted, there was a pond to be dug. By then they had a feeling that the pond wasn't the end of it. Daniel surveyed them gleefully as they dug until their shirts stuck to their skin with sweat and they needed to take them off. Mr Miyagi sent him off to get them drinks when it looked like he was enjoying their suffering a little too much. 

They didn’t complain. They were used to hard work and doing it without getting yelled at was a novelty. Mr Miyagi thanked them every evening for their work and even Daniel softened to them a little by the end of the first week, going from peanut gallery to conversationalist as he watched them working. 

One evening, when they were all going home, having said goodbye to Mr Miyagi and trudged outside to their bikes, Johnny broke away from the pack to go back to the front door where Daniel had let them out. 

“I’ll drop you home,” he said. 

“What? How?” Daniel crossed his arms again and looked at him dubiously. 

Bobby could only see the back of Johnny’s head but he would have put money on it that he rolled his eyes. 

“You can ride pillion with me,” he said. “You can hang on right? I didn’t do anything to your arms.”

“I dunno, Johnny,” Daniel shifted a little. 

“Come on you’re not driving stick with that leg,” Johnny said. “And it’s out of your mom’s way to pick you up. Let me help.” 

After a long silence Daniel finally nodded his head. He called back into the house that he was going home and limped back down the front steps with Johnny who gave him an arm to grip before getting impatient and sweeping him up in a bridal carry. 

Bobby smiled at them and Johnny flipped him off.


	2. Jimmy

Jimmy walked up to where Mr Miyagi and Daniel were playing checkers on the deck and cleared his throat awkwardly. They turned to face him, Daniel with a crease between his brows and Mr Miyagi looking calmly expectant. 

“I can’t come over tomorrow,” Jimmy said, scuffing his shoe against the grass. “It’s my moms’ anniversary and I said I’d stay home.” 

Mr Miyagi nodded once and gave him a short, “Hai,” before turning back to the board. 

Jimmy hung around for a second and then turned to leave. Daniel turned to look at his mentor and then swung back around to Jimmy and then back to Mr Miyagi to mutter a quick apology before scrambling after Jimmy’s departing back. 

“Hey, wait up,” he said, falling into step with him. 

Jimmy turned back to him and raised an eyebrow. Daniel put a hand on his arm briefly before taking it away again. 

“I lost my dad,” Daniel said. “I’m really sorry, man, it’s hard.”

Jimmy blinked at him before his brain caught up with him. “Oh! No, Daniel, my- I meant their wedding anniversary.” 

“Oh!” Daniel echoed. “Oh phew, that’s- that’s good.” 

He smiled broadly and then frowned. “Wait, why did you just say your mom’s anniversary then instead of your mom and dad’s?” 

The blood drained from Jimmy’s face as he remembered all of a sudden that he really didn’t… know Daniel that well. 

“My, uh,” he stammered. “My- I got- my mom’s partner-”

“Oh, right, she remarried?” Daniel said, throwing up a hand between them, the visual equivalent of ‘that makes sense.’ 

But that wasn’t what he meant. He could just let Daniel assume that though and what would the harm be? His eyes flicked towards the ground. 

“My moms are gay,” he said finally. “I- I have two moms.” 

Daniel’s eyes widened and he took a double take.

“Oh, right!” he said. “I- I see, got ya. I got my apostrophe placement wrong.” 

Jimmy’s forehead wrinkled and Daniel waved him off. He talked a lot with his hands, this kid, Jimmy noted. 

“Can I ask a stupid question?” Daniel asked after a brief pause. 

“Hit me,” Jimmy said. “I’ve heard ‘em all.” 

“How are you… here?” Daniel said and Jimmy laughed shortly. 

“My mom- Beverly I mean. She and my dad got married right out of college and had me straight away. Then when I was like one they realised they made better friends. And that they were both gay, actually. But I’ve just got the one dad, he’s not seeing anyone.” 

“You call your mother Beverly?” Daniel said, sounding scandalised for the first time in the exchange. “I think if I called my mom Lucille I would evaporate on sight from the look she’d give me. Like I literally can’t even imagine.” 

“Well it gets confusing calling two people ‘mom,’” Jimmy huffed another quick laugh. “You have to be like, ‘No, mom, I meant Christine’ so it’s just easier calling them by their first names.” 

“LA, man,” Daniel said, moving his hand from a pinched position by his forehead to an open palm by his head with a careless gesture. Mind blown. 

It was kind of sweet. 

Jimmy chuckled again and went back to where Johnny was trimming the hedges. 

“Hey, good news, your boyfriend isn’t a homophobe,” he said, picking up his own shears. 

“Shut up,” Johnny hissed, swinging around like a viper and scanning the top of the yard. When he was satisfied that Daniel hadn’t heard he turned back to Jimmy. “He’s not my boyfriend. You guys are all so dumb. I’ve just been dropping him home while he can’t drive. We’re trying to make it up to him for being assholes, _remember_? Not my fault you all clock off early.” 

“Sure, Johnny,” Jimmy said in his most patronising tone. 

They trimmed the hedge in silence for a few minutes. 

“So he’s cool about Bev and Christine?” Johnny said with a studied nonchalance. 

“Yeah he’s cool,” Jimmy said. 

“That’s good,” Johnny said under his breath. 

“Hey, so, do you want me to drop Daniel home tonight?” Jimmy asked sweetly. “Since you’ve been carrying the heavy burden of his commute on your own, honourable shoulders all alone.” 

“I fucking hate you, man,” Johnny said, turning beet red and snipping aggressively. “Think you’re real clever, don’t you?” 

“Thank you, I do,” Jimmy grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I return with my tail between my legs and this rather short second chapter. Sorry to have kept you waiting so long! I will try to update more regurlarly going forwards.
> 
> Also, I have been sitting on the idea of Jimmy having two moms for so long now I'm so happy to finally have it out there! Basically I wanted to write period-atypical allyship of bi!Johnny from the Cobra boys and worked backwards from there to Jimmy being a gayby. Johnny came out to Bev and Christine before anyone else when he was 15.
> 
> With regards my use of 'wedding anniversary' when same sex marriage was very much not legal: many same sex couples did consider themselves married at this time and would say 'my wife' or 'my husband' and it was not uncommon for people to have wedding ceremonies that were not recognised by law.


	3. Tommy

The winter break ended, but they still went to the old man’s house after school most days and on the weekends. Sometimes the old man wasn’t there himself, probably having had a surfeit of teenage company, leaving LaRusso nominally in charge of them. The idea that Daniel could tell them what to do was becoming less ridiculous daily as Johnny freaking Lawrence got wrapped further and further around the kid’s little finger. 

But whatever, LaRusso wasn’t all that bad. He was funny, if only because he talked so much he was bound to land some jokes between all the chatter, and he didn’t give them too hard a time over the whole mess that the first semester had been even if the brace on his knee was an ever present reminder. 

Ever present, that was, until it wasn’t anymore. They were near the end of January and the first thing Tommy saw when he walked through the gate to the old man’s back yard was LaRusso practicing a kata, moving a little stiffly but more freely than he had for weeks. 

“Alright, Daniel!” Tommy ran up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist, swinging him in a wide circle while he let out a peal of laughter. “Two working legs: check!” 

From the other side of the yard Johnny frowned at him. 

“Put me down, you gorilla,” LaRusso said, but he was laughing. “Yeah the doctor said I could take it off. Gotta ‘engage in gentle physical activity’ though to get my mobility back.”

“Sparring with Tommy-kun gentle enough?” the old man asked. 

They both took a double take. Tommy’s mouth hung open while Daniel’s eyes shone. 

“Really?” LaRusso asked, all but bouncing on the tips of his toes. 

“You do not use full strength,” Mr Miyagi said, turning to Tommy. “Friendly match, hai?” 

“Sure,” Tommy said, still stunned. 

He assumed a familiar fighting position and then fell out of it to give a quick, clumsy bow. Daniel laughed and bowed back. The other boys started to gather around curiously: Bobby and Johnny behind him and Dutch and Jimmy behind Daniel. He thought that he’d lost karate. They all had.

“Give ‘em hell, LaRusso,” Dutch said and smacked the other boy’s ass sharply.

Daniel jumped a little and Tommy could physically feel Johnny’s cool evaporating into the temperate Californian winter air. He turned around to smirk at him and Johnny frowned at him again. 

“Don’t turn your back, idiot,” he said. 

“Yeah ‘cos Daniel’s gonna to attack me with my back turned,” he rolled his eyes and turned back to face LaRusso. 

They danced around each other slowly, Tommy taking care not to press his advantage while, at the same time, avoiding being too tentative. He struck first (hey, four years of training weren’t going to go away overnight) and landed a light punch in the middle of LaRusso’s chest. 

“Point.” Johnny’s voice came from behind him. 

The old man frowned and shook his head. 

“We do not do that here,” he said simply. “No points.” 

“How do you know who’s won?” Dutch asked, head tilted to the side. 

“Not competition,” Mr Miyagi said. “Just for practice. For fun.” 

While Tommy digested this, LaRusso snuck a leg between his and tripped him to the ground, knocking the air out of him. 

“Hey, man, you okay?” Daniel asked him, giving him a hand to help him up.

“I think you’re healing pretty well,” Tommy smiled and reached forward to ruffle his hair. 

They fought for another few minutes until calling it quits (Daniel-2, Tommy-3, but who was counting?). 

“Thank you,” Tommy turned to the old man and gave another hesitant bow. “I didn’t even realise that I missed it so much.” 

“You’re welcome, Tommy-kun,” Mr Miyagi smiled. 

“Hey, why are we all -kun and Daniel is -san?” he asked suddenly, uncomfortable with the sincerity of it all. “Is he your favourite or something?” 

The old man gave him a withering look with one eyebrow raised. 

“Is this serious question?” he asked.

Daniel laughed and wrapped his arms around the old man and kissed him on the cheek before being pushed off lightly by a smiling Mr Miyagi. 

“Of course I’m his favourite: look at me!” he said, opening his arms wide. “I’m a cherub.” 

“You’re something alright,” Tommy heard Johnny mutter from feet away. 

Daniel stuck his tongue out at Johnny and Tommy smiled. It was a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A friend of mine speculated that Mr Miyagi uses the -san honorific for Daniel as a kind of in-joke, because it is more formal than you would expect a middle aged man to use with a teenager and is roughly equivalent to calling him "Mr Daniel" as an analogue to Daniel calling him Mr Miyagi.

**Author's Note:**

> What's better than two WIPs? Three WIPs!


End file.
